Residents of Nor Gyugh village had to carry water for several months (video)
Seda Zakaryan, a resident of Nor Gyugh village in Kotayk marz (province), spends her days carrying water from elsewhere. She has been carrying water for several months now. “I did not have water in November, December, January, February and March. It is already April but I still do not have water,” she says. The elderly woman who has several diseases also had to save the basement of her house from flood. “All this water reached and crept into my house. Everything is soaked in water, look at those pools of water,” says the desperate woman. Everything began when the pipes supplying water to nearby homes froze and burst in winter. “Thirteen households have been deprived of water for five months. At first we thought it [the pipeline] had frozen and would melt in spring and we would have water anew. But then, they came, cut the damaged pipes and left, leaving us without water,” said Gayane Harutyunyan, another resident of the same village. With the arrival of spring, the ice began to melt flooding the residential area. Seda Zakaryan is not the only resident of the village to have suffered from the situation. “Men used sledges to carry water to each home,” say the residents. The villagers bought new pipes and turned to the Veolia Water company requesting the company to replace the pipes, but the company representatives said the village is not ‘on their balance sheet.’ “It is up to the water company to handle the problem. They show up every month to collect money. If the village is not under their control, why do they come after money?” said Vardan Tadevosyan. The villagers say though they have not had water for several months, debts have accumulated on their accounts. “Our water meters do not work but they came and added 30 000-40 000 drams to the previous figures. If we have not had water, where should the debt appear?” said Kyaram Azadyan. Sirak Mesropyan, head of the Abovyan branch of the Veolia Water company, says although the pipes of the village are not on the company's balance sheet they have decided to help the locals. “We described the situation to our leadership, saying we want to help them by changing the pipes so that people can again have water in their homes,” Mr Mesropyan said. Hours later, tractors arrived in the village and began digging the ground.
